NCDMB Roadmap: NOGICD Act et al

NCDMB‘ve laid foundations for 10-Year Roadmap-Wabote… to collaborate with N/Assembly on NC Act Amendment

The Ni ge ria n C on ten t Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) have put fundamentals in place for the attainment of the Nigerian Content 10- Year Roadmap, which would enable the nation to start reaping the full benefits of its oil and gas resources, with clear linkage to other sectors of the economy. The Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote stated this recently in Abuja at the Quarter 3 Media Engagement organized to inform stakeholders about its activities and achievements. Listing the Board’s accomplishments under his two and half year tenure, Wabote stated that “one of the first framework we put resources into was in the development of Nigerian Content 10-Year Strategic Roadmap. The roadmap documents the short, medium, and long-term targets to increase Nigerian Content performance from 28% to 70% by 2027. ” The key rewards from the implementation of the 10-year roadmap are the creation of 300,000 jobs from industry activities and the retention of US$14bn in-country

out of the US$20bn annual industry spend.”

He noted further that ”the 10-yearroadmap has five pillars namely: Technical Capability Development, Compliance and Enforcement, Enabling Business Environment, Organisation Capability and Sectorial and Regional Market Linkage. It has four enablers, namely F unding , Reg ulatory Environment, Collaboration and Stakeholders Engagement and Research and Development.” On the Technical Capability pillar, Wabote said the Board ”moved the Nigerian Oil and Gas Park Scheme (NOGAPS) from mere plans on paper to actual construction in two pilot locations – Odukpani in Cross River and Emeyal 1 in Ogbia Local Government of Bayelsa State. Each of the parks will create employment for 2000 persons when they are fully operational and will spur manufacturing of critical oil and gas equipment, tools and spare parts close to oil fields.”

He noted that the Board is spearheading the Project 100 Initiative and 60 oil and gas start-ups have been identified and the Board is sponsoring the deployment of special interventions for their incubation, maturation and

growth into world class service companies. This intervention would include capacity building, funding and access to market, he said. He further confirmed that the Board has also commenced International Certification program for 20 marine personnel. ”The cadets are already on board foreign vessels and would stay for 12 months, which would qualify them to be awarded the Certificate of Competence (COC), with which they can work in the Nigerian waters and overseas. The program will address the deficit of trained cadets in the maritime and oil and gas industries and reduce the dependence on foreign personnel in the marine operations.” The Executive Secretary also reported the Board’s provision of equity investment to catalyze the establishment of 5,000barrels per day modular refinery by Waltersmith Refining & Petrochemical Company Limited in Ibigwe, Imo State and in the 12,000barrels per day Hydroskimming Modular refinery by Azikel Petroleum Limited at Obunagha, Gbarain, Bayelsa State. ”The Waltersmith refinery is on track for completion in May 2020 while the Azikel Refinery would be completed in 2021. We expect about 300,000 liters of diesel daily in addition to various volumes of naphtha, kerosene,

and fuel oil from Waltersmith while Azikel will produce about 1.5million litres or 50 trucks of petrol daily, including 170,000liters of diesel, and other products,” he added. Both modular refinery projects have huge prospects for jobs creation, value retention, petroleum products availability and the development of in-country capability and they fit perfectly with our vision to serve as a catalyst for the development of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, he stated further.

On the second pillar, Compliance and Enforcement, the NCDMB boss said the Board had put in place seven companies to assist in carrying out specific and specialized monitoring and compliance functions in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors of the industry. The Board also deployed chartered accounting firms to carry out forensic audit of Nigerian Content Development F und (NCDF) remittances. According to him, “the Forensic Audit started in November 2018 and has revealed huge amounts of non-remittances from operating and service companies. At the moment, some companies have owned up to their indebtedness and have started addressing their infractions.

On the other hand, a few companies have remained recalcitrant. We have concluded plans to hand over such companies to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for prosecution.” On the pillar for Enabling Business Environment, Wabote stated that the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) NCDMB signed with the Nigeria LNG, International Operating Companies under the aegis of the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) and Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG) have helped to shorten the NCDMB interface on the tendering cycle in the Oil and Gas Industry from 36 months to 9 nine months. He added that ”it has also enhanced broad compliance with the requirements of the Nigerian Content Act and led to significant reduction in the unit cost of oil production in Nigeria.

“During the last review held in May this year, major operating companies, including SPDC/ SNEPCo, Chevron, Total E&P and First E&P all rated NCDMB very high on the implementation of the SLA.” Dwelling on Funding, the Executive Secretary said NCDMB have disbursed a total of US$160m out of the US$200m Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCI

Fund) to qualified firms, as part of our efforts to provide accessible credit for Nigerian oil and gas service companies and community contractors with single digit interest rate and one year moratorium. He indicated that the Board was working to promote relevant and reliable data and statistics and have established a collaborative framework with National Bureau of Statistics. ”We intend to shortly commission specific data collection projects to counter some of the unverifiable data being bandied around our national discourse,” he added. He also confirmed that the Board would collaborate closely with the 9th National Assembly to complete the amendment of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, so as to extend it to key sectors like Power, Construction and Information Communication Technology. He advised against the creation of multiple regulators of Local Content in Nigeria, noting that ”NCDMB can modify its templates to suit other sectors. In our view, this is the prudent way to expand and entrench local Content regime in Nigeria.”

www.majorwavesenergyreport.com Majorwaves Energy Report SEPTEMBER 2019, Vol 2 No 6 13 60% NCDMB Trainees Secure Employments S ixty percent of the participants in the Smart Electrical Engineering Training organised by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) have secured employment placements. Four of the 50 engineers secured international placements with BIC Electric and now work in Europe, while other successful participants got employments in Nigeria with AOS Orwell, Daystar Power Group, Eauxwell, Jubaili Bros and PNN amongst others. The six-month classroom and on the job training was conducted at the Lagos Energy Academy (LEA) by AOS Orwell, an oil and gas servicing company on behalf of the NCDMB. The second batch of 50 engineers would commence their training in September at the same location. The beneficiaries, like all other trainees of NCDMB were selected from the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Joint Qualification System (NOGICJQS) and underwent qualifying tests and interviews. Speaking on Wednesday in Lagos at the certificates presentation ceremony, the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote commended AOS Orwell for the success recorded with the Smart Electrical Engineering Training. He described it as a validation of the Board’s new model for human capacity building, which emphasizes the delivery of trainings with a line of sight to employment opportunities. He stated that the Board had now adopted a 60-20-20 model for human capital development,whereby 60 percent of the training spend and efforts gets devoted to programmes

that guarantee jobs for the participants. ”Before we give a training contract to any company, the firm must undertake that 60 percent of the people they would train must secure employments.” He added that 20 percent of the Board’s trainings would be designed to improve the skills of persons already employed while the remaining 20 percent will cater for general and non-certificated trainings.

According to him, the Board’s new capacity building model would contribute to meeting the targets set in the Nigerian Content 10-year roadmap and achieving the drive of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to create employment for young persons from the activities of the oil and gas industry and ancillary sectors. Wabote regretted that several organizations within and outside the oil and gas industry expend huge resources and train thousands of youths, without defined strategies to get the beneficiaries engaged or employed afterwards. He challenged other organisations to take a cue from the Board’s

training model, adding that ”we are willing to work with other oil and gas service providers with a well thought out training programmes in fulfilment of our mandate.” He also congratulated the participants, noting that 50 of them graduated without a single drop-out and reports of their performance showed that they passed their tests and now have international certification from Siemens. He charged the young engineers to utilize any opportunity they get in life and to continue to improve, acquire new knowledge and remain confident.

The Executive Secretary also challenged the incoming participants to surpass the enviable record set by the first batch and to look beyond the collection of stipends to focus more on the acquisition of practical skills under this programme. He added that “the focus area of this training on smart electrical engineering is also an area very important to the industrialization of our country Nigeria. As the nation moves towards the realization of provision of reliable power supply, it is people like you that will be required

NCDMB holds NCCF Retreat, seeks feedback on NC Implementation

Th e N i g e r i a n C o n t e n t Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) recently held the maiden edition of the Nigerian Content Consultative Forum (NCCF) retreat in Lagos, with a charge to the sectorial groups to provide credible feedback on the implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act. The retreat with the theme ‘Consolidating the Gains of the Oil and Gas Industry; Putting Nigeria First through the NCCF’ was aimed at bringing industry stakeholders

together to give feedback on the journey so far, and to collaborate on policy proposals that may be relevant to the Board. Delivering the welcome address, Chairman NCCF NCDMB, Mr. Patrick Daziba Obah explained that the retreat was an offshoot of the NCCF Steering Committee Meeting held in March, and an indication that the Board takes the NCCF recommendations very seriously. He informed that NCCF was established by the NOGICD Act 2010 as a medium for the Board’s stakeholders across diverse sectors to share ideas and

to sustain the sector. You should therefore see this training as very relevant as the skills will continually be in high demand.”

The General Manager Lagos Energy Academy (LEA), Mr. Leke Adegbola noted that the 6-month training was conducted in collaboration with Siemens and other international power companies. In addition to the engineering modules, the participants were also trained in values and social responsibility and coached to be in employability state. A total of 960 training hours was recorded in the programme, he said. The participants made glowing comments about the training, the knowledge and mentoring they received. Some of them recalled that they lacked experience and were unemployed before the programme but have now acquired highly specialized skills and begun careers in electrical engineering with reputable companies. They also thanked NCDMB and the LEA for the lifetime opportunity and promised to remain good ambassadors of the programme.

and collaborate and submit policy proposals that are relevant to Nigerian Content Development. Obah, who is also the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics in the NCDMB indicated that the retreat was organized to reflect on the achievements of the NCCF from its inception in 2014 till date, and added that the achievements would not have been possible without the inputs and collaborations of the Sectorial Working Group (SWG) members. He emphasized that one of the purposes of the retreat was to set the agenda of the next phase of the NCCF in line with the Board’s Nigerian Content 10-Year Road Map, covering short, medium and long term activities that would significantly improve value retention within the Nigerian Oil & Gas industry, create jobs and build capacity, and this is in line with the Board’s vision statement, “ To be the catalyst for the industrialization of the Nigerian oil and gas industry and its linkage sectors”.